Fighting
by I Beat U At Everything
Summary: A young man, fearing certain doom, crosses the line with his best friend. IkexMia. One of my main goals in writing this was to see if I could write a fanfic that could be understood without playing the game. Please tell me if I succeeded.


_**Disclaimer:**_ Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and it's story/characters are the property of Intelligent Systems and Nintendo. I, I Beat U At Everything at , do not claim ownership to these characters/original story of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. The only component that I, I Beat U At Everything at , own is this specific story.

Fairly simple romance story. I like IkexMia. Seems like the only girl Ike would ever want(he's so stoic and asexual:\) In the last year, I've seen more and more IkexMia fans popping up, so I decided I'd finally post this. It's the first story I've ever written so I expect criticism. Though, for the record, I don't take flames. I want to make it clear that I will not send you any alerts before I report you if you post unproductive comments for the sole purpose of degradation.

But enough of my babbling. Please, enjoy and comment. Tell me what's good and what's bad.

On a cool pleasant evening, a solitary young woman returning from training walked through a village of tents in search of her own. Her hair was a deep indigo and she wore a mess of straps, clips, and a scabbard; anything that might carry a necessary item on the battlefield. She got back to her tent and began to remove the aforementioned mounds of combat equipment and brought out her rations. All was calm, which was unusual indeed, as this particular girl was one constantly filled with energy, always looking for something to pump her adrenaline, something to make her sweat. Nonetheless, she actually was enjoying the calm. It was a nice contrast to the bloody, live-or-die mood of the battlefield. Yes, all she wanted to do right now was eat and rela-

"Mia!", whispered the desperate voice of a young man, breaking her from her thoughts.

She looked to her tent flap to see a shaggy head of blue hair atop none other than her commanding officer and friend, General Ike.

"Hey, boss! Whatsup?", She happily chirped.

With a frightened look on his face, he shushed her.

"Boss", she began, "what's the matter?"

Almost in answer to her question came the call, nay, the shriek of their company vendor, Aimee.

"Ikee-Poo, where are you?"

"Please, Mia", he implored, "She's been hounding me since you and I finished training, and I can't lose her. You have to let me hide in here!"

"Anything for you, Boss, but this is just a tent, and I can't exactly hide you where anyone wouldn't have a clear easy view." Mia said apologetically, "If I know Aimee she's gonna search every tent top to bottom. She doesn't really have a whole lot better to do."

"Well you can't just let her find me. She'll do ...whatever Aimee does to any helpless man she manages to catch.", Ike said helplessly.

Understanding his plight, Mia, nonetheless, inwardly chuckled. She'd known Ike for almost a year now. The both of them were accomplished fencers and they probably spent half their free time practicing together, in addition to mandatory practices on days without any battles, which they also would only ever do with each other. Ike was the strongest swordsman she'd ever met, and she was probably the only person with the guts (or perhaps the lack of awareness as to what either of them could do to each other) to fight him. And from these relentless sparring sessions, she had come to know Ike even better than some of his childhood friends did.

Ike was a generally calm, and constant youth. He had a heart of gold and would do all that he could to see justice brought about. He was a blunt boy of few words and his rashness and lack of consideration for the respect that was so deserved of nobles often got him in a lot of trouble when speaking to those of a higher station than himself. Still, Mia knew that Ike only ever spoke the truth and never tried to mock anyone. The only disrespect he ever showed was to those he felt needed to be taught a lesson in manners themselves.

That being said, to see him so flustered and terrified of an infatuated older woman made her want to burst out laughing. However she knew he needed help and she would do her best to supply him.

"Well, can you think of anything that might make her go away", she asked her quivering friend.

"No!", he retorted, being sure to maintain a hushed tone. "When she gets in one of her 'moods', the only option is to hide. I've been lucky thus far to have been in large castles or forts when she gets like this, but I can't think of anything to do out here."

"Then I guess you're just gonna have to sweat it out, boss.", Mia said matter-of-fact-ly, "Short of being 'already taken', I really don't think there's anything you or I could do that would make her -"

"That's it! Mia, you're a genius!" Ike burst out in the middle of her sentence.

"Thanks, boss!", she chirped once more, "um ...but, what did I do?"

And just before Aimee poked her head into the tent, Ike pulled Mia into the deepest, most passionate fake kiss he could muster up with all of his strength.

"Gah! I knew it. There's no way you could've resisted me unless you were sneaking off with someone else. Well! The beautiful Aimee knows when she isn't WANTED!" the woman bellowed. And with that she stormed off and Ike released Mia.

"Whew", he sighed as he wiped sweat off of his forehead,"Thanks, Mia! It sounds like she finally got the message!" Now he was the one up in high spirits.

Mia, on the other hand was stunned. Stun slowly turned to awareness. Awareness turned to anger. And Ike was still sighing with relief, not noticing the almost real fire in Mia's eyes as she glared ferociously at her commander.

"What ...in the HELL?! ...WAS-" once again being cut off as footsteps approached and Ike pulled Mia into another kiss.

It was merely their tactician searching the camp for Ike to inform him of the plan for their next battle. Upon seeing the two of them in their state, he left without a word.

Ike opened his eyes and released Mia once again. "Who was it? She didn't come back, did she?", he gasped.

"No!", she snapped, "It was Soren, your tactician." she growled through gritted teeth. She then proceeded with her earlier question, "Ike, what the hell were you thinking?! Do you even know what you just did?! TWICE?!"

"Well, um, sorry" he said in bewilderment at her rage. "I was trying your idea. It seems to have worked. I didn't realize you'd get so angry."

"My idea?! Never once did I say that a good way to get rid of that pervert was to snog the living daylights out of me!" she shouted, after which she began wiping his saliva off of her lips.

"Well, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was such a big deal.", he said as he got up to leave.

She just sat, mouth a-gape, in utter bewilderment at him. "Not a big deal?!" she mentally screamed.

"Um ...hey ...Mia? ...you alright?", he asked. "Well, you look a little out of it right now, so I'm gonna go. I'll see ya in the morning."

It took her until he was out of the tent to register this and by the time she could manage "You get back in here right now!", he had disappeared into the darkness of the night.

"Ugh!", she moaned. "He really doesn't think it's significant, does he?" she thought to herself. "Ike would never take advantage of me, or try to make me do something he knew full well would make me uncomfortable. I really think he has no understanding of the importance that comes with ...doing ...that thing he did ...with somebody." she began thinking aloud, though not entirely wanting to say that word out loud.

This reminded her that she still had his spit on her mouth. As she raised her hand to continue wiping it away, a part of her mind made her question why she was doing it. Despite the fact that what he'd done was totally inconsiderate and downright harassment ...she knew he wasn't trying to do anything to intentionally abuse her and ...seeing as it was Ike and not, well, anybody else ...it actually felt kind of good.

Ike woke up feeling very good the next morning. He had no more Aimee to bother him and the battle today, according to his tactician, would be an easy victory. Today he understood the feeling of free-spirited jubilee that Mia seemed to be feeling all the time.

"...Oh ...right ...Mia..." he said to himself. Looking back on it, she sure was shooting daggers at him as he left her tent last night. He couldn't understand why she was so mad. It's not like he had taken her sword without permission or given her some impossible task to do in their next battle. "Maybe I shouldn't have kissed her that second time. I mean ...I knew full well Aimee wasn't coming back. I guess I was still on edge..."

He began to drop into a daze. He had met Mia at the beginning of the war. It must have been almost a year ago that he and his father's mercenary team were in an abandoned fort surrounded by soldiers of the invading Daein army, when a purple-haired young woman came up to him asking if he was Ike. Confused that this stranger knew his name, he answered yes and proceeded to inquire who she was. She said that her name was Mia and that she had originally been hired as an army mercenary to protect their mutual home country, Crimea, from the invaders. However, she had been caught. Had it not been for Greil rescuing her, she was to be transported to a Daein prisoner camp. Ike recognized his father's name and jumped to ask where he was. She said she'd seen him outside the fort before she came in. She proceeded to ask if she could fight alongside Ike and his team. He wasn't sure he wanted to, but suddenly he heard a scream coming from behind him. One of his comrades was badly injured. The wound didn't look like it would be difficult to heal once they could get some calm for their priest to use healing magic on it. But for now, the soldier was blatantly crippled. With few soldiers and not many other options, he agreed to let her join in the fight.

After the fight, the group found a place to stay during the night. There, Ike and Mia got to know each other. Much like him, she was an aspiring youth who wanted to become a master of the sword. Unlike him, she was a peppy young girl who always seemed to have unlimited amounts of energy,a contrast to his mellow, calm demeanor. Among the first things she did was challenge him to a duel. From that point on Mia proclaimed herself and her new friend, Ike, to be "sparring buddies".

Ike learned a lot about Mia from the time they spent practicing together. She could see a reason to be a happy on the darkest day. She wouldn't hesitate to help whoever needed it and she enjoyed the low-pressure easy-going life of a mercenary, much like him. Maybe the quality that he most admired about her was her tenacity. In battle, Mia would lay down dozens of soldiers and not get tired and when they trained, though she usually lost, she wouldn't give up until she had some inhibiting wound. Their company priest, for this reason, didn't like that quality in her.

He was broken from has reverie by his tactician informing him that battle preparations were complete and it was time to move out.

"Oh, sorry, Soren.", Ike returned, "I guess I spaced out for a second there."

"A second indeed.", Soren said in an almost scolding manner. "Do you know how long you've really been standing there listlessly? About twenty minutes, Ike."

"Twenty minutes?!", he practically exploded, calling much attention to himself. "Wow, Soren, I'm sorry. I...I guess I really am feeling funny today."

"I'll say. First you wake up late, then you're as chipper as you were the day your father first got you a practice sword, and then, out of nowhere, you drift away to planet Ike."

"Sorry, I'll try to keep a better hold of myself later today." he apologized again.

"Ok, ok, I get it. You're sorry." he said, irritated at the multitude of apologies. Though, as he walked away, he turned around and said, "Um ...If this is all because I caught you and Mia in your ...intimate moment, I apologize. I didn't mean to barge in."

"What?!", he retorted with a red face, "Wait ...oh, that, um..."

"I see. Well, I'll leave you to your thoughts. Just make sure to head up the troops when we get to our destination. By your leave, commander."

With that, Soren exited and Ike was left with the crimson flush on his cheeks and an inability to say anything. "...Mia...", he mused. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen her all morning.", he thought to himself.

Arrows flew, steel collided with steel and massive axes came crashing down on the unwary soldier. The Daein army was putting up much more of a fight then had been expected and, to the surprise of Ike's forces, they were winning too. Casualties were rising, and there weren't enough priests or even magi to perform the healing spells necessary to keep fighting. And so, reluctantly, Ike pulled out a horn and signaled a retreat. The army needed to fall back to the woods where they wouldn't be followed, at least not very far.

It appeared as though they had all safely made it out. Just then however, Ike noticed a number of Daein soldiers still crowded around one agile fighter. She was in over her head though and couldn't keep it up for long.

"Mia!", Ike gasped.

Wasting not a second, he lunged into the crowd, taking out at least four Daeins with a mighty slash. "Good to ...*pant* ...see you ...boss.", Mia breathed with relief. She really was telling the truth, even though she had been avoiding him during the morning. The break was short-lived, however, and Ike didn't even have time to respond before what seemed like the entire army had them surrounded. "Heh ...bad odds huh, boss?", she breathed again. "You said it", he replied, "These guys don't stand a chance."

"Now that's what I like to hear!" she said proudly.

Despite the bravery of the two trapped warriors, the mob around them just kept increasing, neither party really willing to let their guard down long enough to strike the other.

"Bravo, boys, bravo. We've made ourselves a catch." bellowed a harsh voice from within the crowd. A decorated soldier stepped out. It didn't take Ike more than a second to deduce that this proud pompous man was the enemy commander.

"And quite a catch", he continued, looking directly at Mia. Her grip on her weapon tightened. Then, however, he noticed Ike.

"Well, well. This just keeps getting better. You're the blue-haired whelp the soldiers gossip about in their free time. They tell me you can mow down entire squads without even breaking a sweat. Those forces that just scampered off are members of the Crimean Liberation Army, the one that's been traveling the continent, seeking help to restore it's country. You've eluded our attacks at every turn. And", he concluded, "if I'm not mistaken, you are their commander."

"That's me.", he confirmed, "And I suggest you crawl back behind your men so you can see the truth to their rumors yourself before we kill you." he said in a defiant tone. It brought quite the smile to Mia's face.

"Now this one's a fighter. That's good. We never get any fight out of your weak countrymen. All they do is plead for their life and die." he cackled

This made Ike mad.

"Prepare to have that vile tongue cut from your mouth," he yelled in a rage.

And as Ike jumped away from Mia, the commander shouted, "Seize the girl."

"What", Mia jumped, just as she was wrestled into a choke hold by a massive soldier.

"Mia!", Ike almost screamed.

"You!", he barked at the commander, "Tell him to drop her right now or your head comes off."

"The way I see it, you're not it any position to be making demands.", he snarled, "I'll offer you a counter-proposition: you're gonna do what you're told. Otherwise, the girl gets her neck snapped." Despite this threat, Mia was kicking and flailing away, but to no avail. She just wasn't strong enough to escape.

Every bone, muscle, and blood vessel in his body was screaming at Ike to brutally slaughter the lot of them in the face of such monstrous actions toward his friend. However, he couldn't let anything else happen to her. He let his guard down and eased up on his stance, much to Mia's surprise.

"Heh, heh. That's a good dog. Drop the weapon.", the enemy commander said. Ike complied immediately.

"Don't do it, boss! You can take them! I'll be fine!", Mia shouted, hardly believing her words even as she spoke them.

Ike detected an undertone of anger in her voice beneath her encouragement. Though he couldn't tell if the anger was directed at the soldiers or at him.

"Hmm. Take the girl's weapon and bring it to me too while you're at it.", he said, chuckling as he did.

"This pig's just toying with him", Mia thought to herself.

Ike did as he was told, a look of blind fury on his face as he did so. When they were sufficiently humiliated and unable to defend themselves, the commander ordered Mia be released. She ran over to Ike and hugged him. She then whispered in his ear, "You shouldn't have done that."

"Maybe not", he whispered back, "But I have no intention of letting anyone, especially you, die on my account." This was the last thing either of them heard before they felt a sharp pain in the back of their heads and blacked out.

* * *

Ike and Mia woke to find themselves being carried down a long hallway with prison cells on either side. They were quite literally thrown into the one at the end of the hall. The only source of light was a barred opening in the roof above.

The door was locked and the two were left in solitude. Not even a word of mockery uttered toward them. It seemed not all the soldiers had the guts or gall to laugh at the infamous commander and his partner.

Mia groaned in pain, but wouldn't say anything. Ike supposed the groan was attributed to the same pain he was feeling in the back of his skull that he guessed was probably the result of the blunt end of a lance being used to knock them out.

He wasn't, however, all that sure why she wasn't talking.

"Are you alright, Mia?", he asked, concerned.

"Do I sound alright?!", She snapped back.

Ike jerked back at her violent attitude.

Coming to her senses, she realized what she'd just done. In a half-hearted tone, she said, "Sorry, Ike."

Ike looked at her confused. "Ike?" he said, "Not boss?"

She realized that she had called him by name.

"Oh ...yea. What? ...You don't like me calling you by your name?", she said, annoyed at him.

"It's not that, it's just you almost always call me boss ...Though ...as I recall you called me by my name last night too ...when you were angry." he said hesitantly

"Yea? ...well ...Maybe I'm just angry again. Maybe I only call you Ike when I'm angry!" she decided she was going to make sure to call him boss the rest of the night.

At this Ike grabbed her and turned her to face him. She just slightly blushed at the contact.

"Mia, what's the matter with you? You're jumpy and angry and you overreact to everything I say." he said in a serious tone, "Where's happy hyper courageous Mia?"

"Well, if you hadn't noticed", she began, "we're locked in a prison cell. I can hardly see a damn thing. My weapon's gone and your's is too. What do you propose we're going to do about the situation?" She didn't really expect an answer.

There was silence. Ike was still in a mix of astonishment and depression at seeing his friend so aggravated.

After a couple of minutes or so Mia continued talking.

"You shouldn't have given into that guy so easily." she said quietly. "You could've taken him down in a heartbeat and the others wouldn't have even come near you.", she said. Her unshakable faith in her commander practically radiated from her.

After another grunt of pain, she continued, "Besides, I would've been fine. I could've broken out of that guy's hold. He was nothing..."

"Mia", Ike began, "your head isn't the only thing that hurts, is it?" to which he got no response. Though, her agonized face made it plain.

"That guy had a tough grip on you. I'm pretty sure he bruised a number of your muscles without even trying very hard."

"Well ...If you're going to be so persistent ...Thanks for saving me, boss.", she said, this time meaning it.

"No problem, Mia.", he said, his spirits up a little more now that Mia was feeling better.

At this Mia started to look nervous and displaced. It took only a moment for her to burst out, saying all in one breath, "Ughhh! Fine! I'm not angry about the surrender! I'm angry about you kissing me! That's what I'm angry about!"

Ike was stunned at her sudden confession. Although, as he came back to his senses, he realized he shouldn't have been.

"Well, we're making progress", he said, his voice a little shaky.

He paused a moment and then continued, "Mia ...can you tell me why you're so angry about that. I ...I apologize, but I really don't understand."

Frustrated, she breathed out to calm down. "It's alright," she said, "I know you really don't."

After this she paused to collect herself. Ike waited and gave her the time she needed.

"When I was really little, my grandma would always tell me fairy-tales about chivalrous knights saving helpless women and them falling in love.", she said with a hint of disdain in her speech.

"I couldn't stand it", she went on, "but I humored her and listened intently because I cared about her. She would sometimes drift into a story about her and grandpa's first kiss. I had no idea about why she got so wrapped up in it. I understand that it signifies love between two people, but ...I always thought it was just a silly gesture."

"Exactly, that's how I feel.", Ike said. "That's why I don't understand why you're so worked up about it. It's only a gesture, right."

"Well ...no, it's not!", she raised her voice in saying. "I continued to feel that it was until the very moment you took your lips off mine."

It was dark, but Mia could tell her cheeks were starting to get red. Ike continued to look at her and remain silent. She was going to try to explain it to him. She still didn't perfectly understand it herself, but she was going to try.

" ...When I realized what you had done ...I felt kind of ...violated ...and betrayed. A kiss ...even though it isn't love in the ultimate form or anything ...it's still a big thing." she said, sensing a small tear come to her eye. She regained her composure before she continued. "Damn. I'm so bad at emotional conversations", she cursed inside her head. "I can't believe I'm trying to talk to Ike about this."

"It's a physical way ...for two people who care about each other ...to share something they both enjoy ...something that is purely constituted by their togetherness ...and that only the two of them can do together.", she said, not really sure whether she knew what she was talking about or not.

With this Mia was finished. "I feel like I'm trying to teach a child something he should just know without anyone ever explaining it to him." she thought to herself.

"I see now", he said, startling Mia, "It's a way for two people to connect and be together without worrying about anything else."

Mia's eyes widened in utter shock. She had gotten through to him! She couldn't believe it!

"I know I said sorry last night ...but I don't think I really meant it." he said quietly. "I took advantage of your trust and ...and I did something I didn't fully understand. I was inconsiderate of your feelings. I apologize."

For the first time that night, Mia smiled. No wasted words. Short and to the point. Ike always spoke the truth and didn't decorate it.

"I forgive you." she said, calmly and happily, as she turned to face him. "Besides, now you don't have to deal with Aimee anymore. No matter how you look at that, it's a good thing.", she said, her smile growing wider.

Ike chuckled at this.

"You know," she said, her face gaining a look of calm contentment, "of all the people I've ever met, you're probably my best friend ...Ike."

At that, Ike pulled her into a sudden, but gentle hug.

"You're my best friend too, Mia." he whispered.

The silence this time was absolute and lasted longer than they cared to keep track of. But as both of them began nodding off. Ike whispered, "Thanks for forgiving me, Mia."

"No problem, Ike." she whispered back.

And with those words, the last of their strength was spent and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

It was probably very early in the morning when the two of them woke to the sound a massive door being broken through. Light was coming down the hallway now. Confused and, admittedly a little nervous since neither of them had any weapons, they waited for whoever was coming. Realizing they still had their arms around each other, they let go and even Ike, though he would deny it resolutely, had the faintest blush at his intimate position with Mia.

A number of Ike's men, including Soren, reached the end of the hall and found Ike and Mia.

"Soren", they said in unison.

"There's no time to waste, you two. We have to regroup before the enemy finds us.", he said calmly but quickly.

"Boy, is it good to see you." Ike said, relieved as they began running down the hallway.

"Hmm, well it's nice to know that my sudden appearance in the face of the two of you is a good thing this time." he said.

Ike once again blushed just slightly, but moreover he laughed at Soren's statement.

"How did you find us?", Mia asked.

"We were pretty suspicious when the Daein army didn't even attempt a chase and neither of you were anywhere to be found.", he explained. "So we sent a scout to follow them. Good thing, too, because this place is hard to find if you don't know where to look."

"Hope you guys weren't too bored all cooped up in here.", one of the soldiers said.

Mia turned to Ike and smiled knowingly. Ike turned to her and smiled back.

The group left the prison hall and met up with the rest of the army. They prepared to face the troops that would undoubtedly arrive soon.

* * *

Mia sat in her tent eating some medicinal herbs. The priest said they would relax her bruised muscles and alleviate some of the aches. With no more prison and no more being mad at Ike, Mia was back to her normal giddy self, which she much preferred to her brooding, confused self.

"You feeling any better?", came a familiar voice. Ike was at the entrance to her tent.

"Ike!" she yelled happily. She wanted to jump up and hug him but didn't have the energy.

"I'll take that as a yes", he said, sitting down in front of her and crossing his legs.

"Yea. My head still hurts a bit, but it feels good to be back in my own tent." she said, still smiling.

"Although ...", she continued, bringing a confused look to Ike's face, "To be honest ...despite the uncomfortable cell and pain all over my body ...It was just the two of us ...alone ...So I kinda feel like Soren and the others could've taken their sweet time if they wanted."

"Hmm, well it's good to know my company helped." he said with a small smile and closed eyes. "It's also good to see you happy and smiling again. I guess I only went a day without seeing it, but ...well, I realize now how much I missed it.

Mia didn't really know how to respond so she just continued to enjoy his presence. She began to notice how handsome he looked, his lighted form framed against the darkness of the outside of the tent.

"Do you remember," he asked, "what you said shortly after we first met. About how you were bad with emotional conversations?"

"Yea, I think. I just get tongue-tied and don't know what to say."she said with a look of embarrassment on her.

"I don't think that's true.", he said. This time, she was confused.

"Wha ...whadya mean?", she stammered.

At this Ike took hold of one of Mia's hands with his, causing her to blush crimson. She was glad his eyes were closed as he spoke.

"Last night, you spoke perfectly. You were eloquent and made perfect sense. And you taught me something very important about expressing emotions.", he said in one breath.

Her eyes were just barely welling with tears of joy at hearing him praise her so.

"Th ...thank you, Ike." she said, actually starting to cry.

"Are you alright, Mia?" he asked, though he was pretty sure she wasn't sad.

"Oh *sniff*, yea. I'm just ...Oh, Ike!" she tearfully exclaimed, overjoyed simply to be with him. She then climbed into his lap and hugged him. "*sniff* I'm sorry I was so mad at you last night." she said, still crying a little.

"It's alright, Mia. We both messed up.", he consoled, "But that's what friends do. They care about each other and they do things that hurt each other. Then they fight, they tell each other their feelings, they apologize, and afterward, they know each other better, and they're less likely to make the same mistake."

"You always know just what to say and how to say it, don't you." she said, practically swooning, yet with a bit of humor in her tone as well.

"Not really." he replied, "These kinds of things just come to me in moments of inspiration."

"Then I guess that's another thing we have in common." she said cheerfully.

"I guess so.", was all he had to say in reply. More than that probably wasn't necessary.

Then, they simply sat and reveled in their togetherness. After a while, Ike spoke up again.

"I know I've already apologized about what I did. And I know you've already forgiven me. But I still want to make it up to you, Mia.", Ike said in a calm, hushed tone.

"What do you want to do?"she asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Well, I'm sure it won't be quite as good as if it were the first or second, but I'd like to make your third kiss a pleasant thing to make up for how terrible the first two were." he said, now speaking directly into her ear, and only loud enough that she alone could hear him, even if anyone else were in the tent.

Mia was stunned. All that she could manage was a small, "What?"

"You're my best friend, Mia. I meant that when I said it. ...And I was terrified when I realized what they might have done to you should I have not complied with their demands.", Ike replied "Looking back on it ...I knew Aimee had been scared off for good the first time. ...I think my brain was giving me an excuse to kiss you again by making me worry about it the second time."

"Ike, ...to be honest ...even though the kiss was ...well I dunno ...emotionally ...bad", she felt so ridiculous searching for words to express what she meant, " ...physically ...it was far from terrible ...it actually felt pretty good."

Relieved that his suspicions about her feelings for him were correct, Ike closed his eyes and gently pressed his lips to Mia's. She did likewise. The pain in both of their heads was probably going to go on for a couple days or so, but in that moment, every nerve in their body that didn't contribute to the feeling of them being together shut off.

Their kiss went on for quite a while, both Ike and Mia becoming gradually more confident and more comfortable with each other's actions. This was probably the only time in the last year that Ike was able to forget completely about anything pertaining to war or sorrow or blood-shed. They were both blissfully unaware of the world around them.

When they parted Ike rested his head in the crook of Mia's neck and she rested her head in his. Ike had a look of calm contentment, the kind one wears when going to sleep with no problems to worry about. Mia was smiling ear to ear, the kind of smile an innocent child has almost all the time.

"Oh ...Ike", she mused.

"Yea?" he answered.

"Oh, nothing. I guess I just like saying your name."

"Hmm, alright.", he sighed happily.

"Hey, wait a minute.", he finally started speaking louder, much to Mia's surprise, "You called me Ike! And you're not angry! In fact, you haven't once called me boss since last night."

"Wow, I guess I haven't. Um ...well ...I guess I really do just like saying your name now." she said with a grin.

He chuckled, "Heh, that's good. I feel like we're closer together now."

"Oh, and the hugging and kissing and heartfelt conversations didn't do that for you?", she said, trying to keep from bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

She failed.

Ike just kept smiling, basking in the boundless mirth of the girl he was with.

Eventually, Mia completely tired herself out from laughing. She yawned and her eyes started to flutter.

"It doesn't look like you're going to be able to keep awake much longer.", Ike said. "Let's both get to bed. We've endured some harsh stuff in the last twenty-four hours."

"Yea", she said through another yawn.

It took all her strength, but she got up and went over to her sleeping bag.

"You know," she said hopefully, "there is room enough in this thing for two."

"I accept your invitation.", Ike said, still smiling.

Once they were both comfortable, Mia snuggled up to Ike and fell asleep in no time. Ike had only enough energy himself to marvel at her beauty for a few minutes, then put out the candle and fall asleep as well. Never in his life had he felt so relaxed.

**-Fin**


End file.
